Automate Kenya's Corrupt Procurement Process

By Moses Gathongo Githuo

World-over, governments have one primary objective; delivery of service to the people. These services include the construction of roads, dams, schools, hospitals, and other types of infrastructure.

Customarily, governments utilize public procurement as a policy tool to promote public values and social benefits.

However, Kenyan procurement is characterized by flaws and inadequacies that have exposed it to manipulation by state captors.

Even before the country heals from one scandal, another one comes. In September 2015, the taxpayers lost approximately Ksh. 791 million through the infamous National Youth Service (NYS) scandal.

At the intense of the pandemic in 2021, we lost another 7.8 billion through the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (Kemsa) scandal.

To avert the reoccurrence of such flaws, Kenya must fully automate its public procurement process. Automation will enhance fairness, equity, transparency, efficiency and improve vendor relations as stipulated in Article 227 of the Constitution of Kenya 2010 and the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act of 2015.   

 The Constitution of Kenya 2010 Article 227 states that:

''When a state organ or any other public entity contracts for goods or services, it shall do so per a fair, equitable, transparent, competitive, and cost-effective system.''

Transparency, Accountability and Efficiency

Primarily, the Kenyan procurement process has, over the years, failed to meet the expectations of the taxpayers and led to dissatisfaction.

The dissatisfaction can be inferred from statements by political actors. In 2021, President Kenyatta sparked mixed reactions when he stated that the Kenyan government loses over Ksh. 2 billion daily.

As such, these dissatisfactions must act as an incentive to re-engineer the procurement process by fully adopting automated e-procurement.

In promoting fairness and equity, parliament should amend the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act of 2015 to provide for an automated public procurement process.

 Automated procurement processes provide for greater transparency in the procurement process by reducing informational asymmetry.

The e-procurement is associated with technologies such as websites, intranets, and extra-nets. This aids in averting corruption by reducing human interaction. Increasingly, governments worldwide continue to adopt new technologies in the public sector.

The public procurement systems are no exception since they are undergoing digital transformation. Specifically, electronic procurement (e-procurement) aids in increasing the transparency of the processes and holding public officials more accountable.

According to OECD, governments in the Western Balkan region have harnessed technology in public procurement. North Macedonia, for example, uses an e-procurement system to disseminate public procurement information and related documents.

The most widely supported functionalities include publishing the procurement plans at 100%, announcing tenders at 100%, providing tender documents at 100%, and announcing awards at 100% as provided by OECD.

According to an article by Walker and Brammer 2012, governments should leverage technological solutions to identify potential suppliers, enhance communication, reduce costs, and streamline the procurement process.

The e-procurement systems will help the Kenyan government manage the existing perceptions around public procurement by quickly and accurately collating the information needed for procurement decisions.

For example, an automated system can integrate and digitize multiple vendor catalogs and successfully generate an aggregated database, providing a wider pool of suppliers and accurately filtering qualified suppliers as noted by Gunasekaran.

Further, to certify, the authenticity of the services and goods, government purchasers can use the automated system to identify the suitability of the products and services with the lowest prices.

This system can automate and integrate bidding, negotiating, auditing and ordering among others in line with the existing public procurement policies.

Additionally, a fully automated e-procurement system promotes the government’s policies and initiatives by standardizing, automating, and streamlining the procurement process.

Gunasekaran notes that an automated system helps minimize human errors, simplifies procurement workflows, reducing bureaucracies and paperwork with handling invoices and payments.

Moreover, the respective government entity will be able to track its expenditure, analyze and review the purchasing patterns.

As President William Ruto makes plans to digitize public services, he should prioritize automating the public procurement process.

The system will reduce administrative costs, disrupt existing corruption channels, shorten the current order fulfillment timelines, and make the procurement process transparent, accountable, efficient, and cost-effective, as envisioned by the Constitution and the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act 2015.  

The writer is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya.

Mosesg8600@gmail.com

0727243519